What does it mean when AI mentions your company?
A mention shows that your company name appeared in an answer. To judge what that mention is worth, look at which question triggered it, whether the description is correct and which sources are visible. A recommendation for a service you no longer offer calls for a different action than a correct description for a relevant customer question.
Decide in advance what you want to examine. That way you can compare outcomes and choose which improvement is within your control.
Choose questions that fit your offer
Start with questions customers ask while orienting themselves or comparing providers. Take them from customer conversations, from sales and from search behaviour. Also include questions where your company name is absent. Those show whether your company appears when someone does not yet have a provider in mind.
Record for which audience, language and market the questions apply. Choose a limited set that you track the same way each time. Add new questions separately, so outcomes stay comparable over time.
Record the circumstances and the answer
For each observation, note the full question, the system, the date, the language and relevant settings. Also record whether web search was enabled and whether earlier messages in the conversation gave context. Keep the answer and the visible source links.
Repeat the observations at different moments under comparable circumstances. AI answers change over time. A manual check and a tracking tool each measure in their own way. If you see differences, first look at how both measurements are set up.
Judge mention, content and source separately
First check whether your organisation appears in the answer. Then check the described services, target audience, location and conditions. Then note whether a page from your organisation is linked as a source and whether that source supports what is stated.
A brand can be mentioned with a different website as the source. It can also happen that your explanation is cited while a different provider is recommended. Each of those outcomes leads to its own next step.
Example
Say an AI system names you as a 24/7 service provider when asked about maintenance on packaging lines, while you only work during office hours. The visible source is an outdated partner profile.
The first action is to have that profile corrected. Once the platforms involved have processed the change, ask the same question again and compare the answer.
Connect every outcome to an action
If important information is missing on your own site, add it. If an external mention is outdated, contact the manager of that platform. If a question fits your offer poorly, remove it from the measurement. Record changes to the question set and compare measurement periods using the same selection.
A model can explain afterwards why it gave an answer. That explanation gives no insight into how the system selected sources. Base improvements on what you can check yourself: the content of your pages, source references, technical access and factual errors.
Report visibility and results separately
A share of mentions describes the question set you examined. Report which questions, systems and measurement moments were used.
Set alongside that the referrals to your website, matching requests and comments from customer conversations. Bing describes its AI Performance data as measurements of source references. Track traffic and requests in your own analytics and customer data.
This approach connects to AI visibility at upMention. Also read how to assess changes in website traffic.